Author
Topic: Sandisk Connect (Read 462 times)

The Sandisk Connect is proof that necessity is the mother of invention. Phones don't have microSD slots anymore, and no matter how much internal space you have, a 300MB file of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is overkill. I came up with a playlist that I wanted to keep on my phone for when I'm flying, and it was 20GB just to start, so I was going to burn up 1/3 of my phone's storage. I wanted to just use a lightning flash drive, but my headphones (Audeze EL-8 Titanium) use the lightning port. That's when I found the Connect. It is the same size and shape as any other flash drive, but noticeably heavier. That's because it has it's own wi-fi network and battery. You plug it into your computer, load up all your music, and you're good to go... almost. I downloaded 20GB of FLAC files onto it, downloaded the Sandisk Connect app on my phone, and went to go play the files just to find out that FLAC wasn't a supported format. One trip to Google later, and I had to spend 10 bucks on an app called "It's Playing". It is one of 3 apps that I am aware of that can see a Sandisk Connect as a network drive, as the device is normally only accessible via Sandisk's app. I bought the app, and I was good to go. It has handled every file I have thrown at it. It tells you the format, the bit depth, sample rate, and bit rate of whatever file you're listening to. I didn't get this working until this morning, so I can't vouch for if the app messes with quality, but it doesn't appear to have any issues. You can adjust the cache so it can buffer a whole song as well. The Connect is supposed to have a 4.5 hour battery life; I'll find out tonight. I'm really excited about this thing; it makes it so much more convenient. When plugged into a computer, it will not put out a wi-fi signal, but when plugged into a USB charger, it will. It's USB2.0, so transferring 20GB of music took longer than I wanted it to, but it's not like I'm going to keep doing that constantly. Either way, it's a genius little device that fills what I consider to be a growing demand.

Seagate makes a hard drive that is 500GB and more called the Seagate Wireless and Seagate Wireless Plus that works the same way, but I have had an unacceptable amount of bad experiences with Seagate storage, so my 64GB Sandisk will be just fine.

I just wanted to clarify a few things. When I loaded the music onto the Sandisk Connect from my desktop computer, it was plugged into a USB port and worked like a regular flash drive. To connect it to my phone, I unplugged it from the computer, pushed the button on it, waited a few seconds, then on my phone, I went into Settings and Wi-Fi and changed from my home network to the Sandisk's network. Then I open up "It's Playing" to play the music. Yeah, you can't be on wi-fi simultaneously, but I'm using it for when I'm on a plane, so that won't be a problem.

Alright, so my issue at this point is not with the Sandisk, but with the app "It's Playing". It's primarily designed for video, so when I go to browse to listen to something else, the music pauses. When I turn the screen off, the music pauses. I had enough battery life in my phone to just leave the screen on, but it is still an inconvenience. I'll be doing more research to see if there is a workaround, but on the bright side, I have a decent way to store all my high-res audio that I want to take on the road.

I just stuck a reel to reel tape on to play and it sounds great. No apps to worry about!

I am thinking in Spanish "que mucho jode PBJ con eso" - which roughly translates to, you are really consistent in being an anti-digital pain in the rear . All sources can coexist - let the children play! Generally speaking digital has always been lower in the totem pole for me because the others sound better (yes, even some cassette tapes - I am nuts), but once I get the right DAC my opinion may change. Testing a Chord Mojo DAC tonight - DSD-capable. Will report. Will still listen to tape. And LPs.

PBJ: I want to see you try to carry a reel to reel into a plane and explain to the TSA "hey, I need my tunes in-flight..."

(that is an old picture of an RT-909 BJ bought for me up North... the fact that the pinch roller had been wrapped in duct tape to increase its diameter and extend life was a very bad sign... Still I fixed it up and used it for a while)

I was reading in the iTunes store that there is an Its Playing Pro version available for $9.99 that has "Native support for SanDisk Connect™ Wireless Flash Drive". This might fix your pausing issue. The same description on iTunes says the app is supposed to have "Background playback and earbud controls", which makes me think the app should play music even if you are doing something else on your iPhone. Worth looking into anyway.